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Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League
|} The Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League is a Canadian junior ice hockey league based in Southern Ontario, Canada. The league is sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey Association, Ontario Hockey Federation, and Hockey Canada. The league was created in 2007 through the merging of the Western Ontario Hockey League, Mid-Western Junior Hockey League, and Golden Horseshoe Junior Hockey League to dissuade "player raiding" from teams in the Ontario Provincial Junior A Hockey League. The skill level of the league is regarded as comparable to Junior "A", but the league will not consider joining the Canadian Junior A Hockey League for at least a couple seasons. Twenty-five of the twenty-six of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League come from southwestern Ontario and one team comes from upstate New York. History In the late 1990s, the Western Ontario Junior B Hockey League began complaining about their top level players being pulled from their teams at trade deadline time by Ontario Provincial Junior A Hockey League clubs without permission or compensation. The view in Southern Ontario is that Junior "A" and Junior "B" are the same skill level. In fact the OPJHL was known as the Central Ontario Junior B Hockey League until 1993, as well the Metro Junior A Hockey League which folded in 1998 was a Junior "B" league until 1991. The difference between the OPJHL and the MetJHL when compared to the Western, Mid-Western, and Golden Horseshoe leagues is that the OPJHL and MetJHL are Greater Toronto Area-based teams for the most part, while the other three leagues are more rural in nature. During the 2006-07 season, the general managers of all Ontario Hockey Association Junior "B" teams came together and voted unanimously to merge and create the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League effective for the 2007-08 season. The GOJHL will become the sole competing body of the Sutherland Cup, which once had as many as eight leagues competing for it at one time. The 2007-08 season has started off not as planned for the GOJHL. The management of the Mid-Western league resigned and needed to be replaced, and with a lack of organization due to the short time the new management had to get organized the MWJHL had to opt out of an interlocking schedule. As a result, the entire GOJHL will go without an interlocking schedule for 2007-08. The 2008-09 season will see the complete liquidation of all three divisional managements and a single body will be put in place for all three divisions as well as an interlocking schedule between all three divisions. In the future, the league has stated that it will pursue club expansion, a reconfiguration that will move the league from three to four divisions, and possibly a move to join the Canadian Junior A Hockey League in future years. On September 8, 2007, the Cambridge Winterhawks and the Guelph Dominators played the first ever game since the inception of the GOJHL. Despite leading 2-0 and outshooting Guelph, the defending Sutherland Cup Champions allowed five unanswered goals to drop the game 5-2. On May 3, 2008, the Tecumseh Chiefs finished a four game sweep of the Elmira Sugar Kings to win the first ever GOJHL championship. On September 24, 2008, the GOJHL hosted its first ever interdivisional regular season game between the Golden Horseshoe's Wheatfield Jr. Blades and the Western's London Nationals in London, Ontario. The Nationals won the game 6-2. In April of 2014 the league had its request for reclassification to Tier II (Junior A) denied by the Ontario Hockey Association. The league has resubmitted the request in 2016 to become the second Junior A league in the province for the 2017-18 season. The denial in 2014 and other factors have the league and its members threatening to leave the OHA and Hockey Canada if the new request is denied. The request was later denied by Hockey Canada. The Cambridge Winter Hawks would announce their withdrawal from the OHA and defacto resignation for the GOJHL as OHA membership is required to play in the league. In May 2017 it was announced that the Lambton Shores Predators were planning on moving out of Forest to move to Komoka, Ontario for the 2017-18 season The move had already been approved by the league and the OHA. The final approval of Middlesex Centre Wellness and Recreation Complex which met June 21st was the final step in the moved. Two junior C level teams (Mount Brydges Bulldogs and Lambeth Lancers) were also reportedly interested in moving to Komoka. The team was re-branded as the Komoka Kings. On April 18, 2018 it was announced on the league website that the Ancaster Avalanche would be relocating to the Dave Andreychuk Mountain Arena in Hamilton, Ontario and would be renamed the Hamilton Kilty B's after the former Hamilton Kilty B's who were renamed the Hamilton Red Wings in 2002 and in 2015 moved to Markham, Ontario and became the Markham Royals. On May 8, 2018 the Ontario Hockey Association approves the relocation of the Guelph Hurricanes to Cambridge, Ontario. The team will play out of the Galt Arena Gardens for the 2018-19 season. The team was originally known as the Hesper Shamrocks and later Cambridge Shamrocks when they were established back around 1960. The team played in Cambridge until 1982 when they moved to Guelph. On June 18, 2018 it was announced that the Milton Icehawks of the Ontario Junior Hockey League would be relocating to Brantford and be renamed the Branrford 99ers Jr. A. The present Brantford 99ers are tentatively planning on staying in Brantford and continuing to play out of the Wayne Gretzky Sports Centre pending a meeting with the Ontario Hockey Federation. Both teams have the same ownership. Teams Sutherland Cup playoff champions (2008)]] For OHA Junior "B" champions prior to the 2007-08 season, please see OHA Junior "B" section below Bold denotes Sutherland Cup Champion. Italicized denotes Sutherland Cup finalist. |} |} Listed are the Sutherland Cup champions from the 1993-94 season until the 2006-07 season. From 1993 until 2007 the Sutherland Cup was exclusive to the three leagues that now comprise the GOJHL. For Junior "B" champions prior to the 1993-94 season, please visit: Sutherland Cup. NHL Draft This is a list of first round National Hockey League draft picks of players straight out of the GOJHL. *'Daultan Leveille' - 2008 1st Rd - 29th Overall to Atlanta Thrashers (St. Catharines Falcons) Former Member Teams *Owen Sound Greys (Returning for 2010-11) See also *List of GOJHL Seasons *Golden Horseshoe Junior B Hockey League *Mid-Western Junior B Hockey League *Western Ontario Junior B Hockey League External links *The GOJHL Webpage *Western league's Webpage *Mid-Western league's Webpage *Golden Horseshoe league's Webpage *Ontario Hockey Association Webpage Category:Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League Category:Ontario Hockey Association Category:Ice hockey leagues Category:Established in 2007